Startup blogs and newsletters that feature new products: what each accepts

A blog or newsletter feature is not a listing. You suggest your product, an editor decides, and most never tell you no. Of the ones on our list, a few are free and say so, Startupguys sells review packages, and several state plainly what they won't cover: commercial products, paid tools without a free version, agencies, press releases.

This guide covers the startup blogs and newsletters on our list: who each one covers, what it costs where the site says, and what it refuses, in its own words as we read them on 29 and 30 September 2026. Each name links to its page on the list, with the source and the date. We take no money from the places we list.

01The short list

The table shows what each poster shows: the kind, the cost where the site states one, and the date of our last link check. Hover a cost for the full text. A blank cost means we found no price on the site's own pages. What each one accepts is below, in its own words.

Most of the developer newsletters hang in room 02 with the communities; the startup blogs, 10 words, Console and Sidebar hang in room 01.

02Newsletters for any new product

10 words is the one general newsletter on the list that says it's free:

D00310 words·Cost

“Each project you submit to 10words will be included on our newsletter, website, Twitter, discover section and browser extensions - for free!”

Our reading: Free

Its tagline says what it is: "Discover new apps and startups in 10 words or less." So the one line you write matters.

03Newsletters for developer and design tools

Most newsletters that take suggestions write for one kind of reader. Pick the one whose readers would use your product.

• Console is a free weekly newsletter reviewing developer tools. It picks them against published selection criteria, and one of its questions is: "Is there a self-service signup? A demo or speaking to sales may be an option, but an individual developer should be able to try it themselves without speaking to anyone." It also says: "We do not do sponsored reviews." Betas must be pre-1.0 or labeled beta.
• Sidebar sends "The five best design links, every weekday." Its about page (opens in a new tab) sets a bar for paid tools: "Sidebar generally avoids featuring paid products unless they offer a free or demo version that can be useful on its own."
• The Changelog is a developer newsletter and podcast. Its submission page lists "Commercial products/services. Sponsorship is your path." among what it doesn't take as news, and says you'll be emailed "if and when your submission gets published". More in where to launch a developer tool.
• Web Tools Weekly is for front-end developers and covers tools only: "Please don't submit articles or tutorials, they will not be included."
• Android Weekly: "Links in each issue will be chosen by us. Please be aware that we can't pick every link."
• PyCoder's Weekly, for Python: "while we cannot guarantee to feature every submitted link in the newsletter, we take everything you send us into consideration."
• iOS Dev Weekly, for Swift and Apple-platform developers, asks you not to suggest links from blogs already in its iOS Dev Directory: "Please save Dave's time by not submitting links from sites in the directory."

None of these states a price for being featured. None promises to feature you either.

04Startup blogs

• Feedough says: "Get Featured On Feedough. It's free." It is selective about what counts: "Not every new business is a startup. We don't review digital marketing agencies, websites, blogs, and other not-so-disruptive businesses."
• Startup 88 has an editor review founders' pitches, and its pitch page says: "Pitches should be from founders, pitches by PR firms and SEO companies will be ignored."
• Starter Story publishes founder interviews rather than product listings, and says "There's no cost to be featured."
• Tech Pluto, Arctic Startup and Startup Beat are startup news sites that take suggestions. We have not found a price or a stated wait on their own pages yet. Arctic Startup covers the Nordics and Baltics, in its own words.

For hardware, Hackaday runs a tips line. Its tip page welcomes your own projects, with one warning: "Don't send us press releases. If you're truly excited about something it's worth writing us an email pointing out the parts of the submission most interesting to the Hackaday crowd."

For Mac and iPhone apps, 9to5Mac's Indie App Spotlight is, in its own words, "a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world."

05Paid features

Startupguys sells the feature outright. It offers three review packages: $49, $99 or $349, by its submit page as we read it on 29 September 2026, and says reviews are published in 7 to 10 working days. The cost column above shows the entry price.

A review you pay for is a paid placement. Google asks sites (opens in a new tab) to "Mark links that are advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links) with the sponsored value." So pay for the readers a review might bring, not for the link. The paid review sites for apps are compared in app review sites.

06What editors ask for

Put the refusals side by side and a pattern shows:

• Try it without a sales call. Console asks for self-service signup; Sidebar skips paid products without a useful free version.
• Not a press release. Hackaday says so outright, and Startup 88 ignores pitches from PR firms and SEO companies.
• The right format. Web Tools Weekly takes tools, not articles; The Changelog takes news, not how-tos; 10 words takes ten words.
• Commercial products pay. The Changelog sends them to sponsorship.
• No reply is the usual answer. Android Weekly, PyCoder's Weekly and The Changelog all say they can't feature everything, and The Changelog tells you only if it publishes.

We don't know how many suggestions any of them accepts, and we don't measure what a feature brings.

07Outlets that are gone

Startup blogs stop publishing quietly. On 30 September 2026 we hid two from the list: Killer Startups had published nothing since 8 April 2025, and its submit page now led to a newsletter sign-up; Netted's newest article was from 20 February 2025, and its RSS feed was empty. Both are in the changelog, and we print their names without links on purpose.

Before you send a pitch anywhere, check that the site still publishes. How to check a directory before you submit shows what a dead, parked or hijacked site looks like.

08How we checked

We read each outlet's own pages on 29 and 30 September 2026 and quote them word for word; each place's page on the list shows the source and the date. We checked that each one still publishes, and hid the ones that had stopped. Nobody pays to be listed or to appear in a guide. Read how we check for the details.

09Questions

01

How do I get my startup featured on a blog?

Pick an outlet whose readers would use your product, read what it refuses, and suggest it through the outlet's own page. Feedough and Startup 88 review what founders send; Feedough skips agencies and other businesses it doesn't see as startups, and Startup 88 ignores pitches from PR firms. Expect no reply unless you are picked.

02

Which newsletters feature new startups for free?

10 words says every project submitted is included for free. Console, Sidebar, Android Weekly, PyCoder's Weekly, iOS Dev Weekly and Web Tools Weekly state no price for a feature, but their editors choose, and none promises to include you.

03

Do startup blogs charge for features?

Some do. On our list, Startupguys sells review packages, and its prices are on its page. Feedough and Starter Story say a feature is free. Console says it does not do sponsored reviews, and The Changelog sends commercial products to sponsorship instead of news.